Synopsis for "The Sleep of Reason"

Jason Blood arrives in Louisiana, and leaves a trail of cryptic predictions of doom for most of the people he meets there.

In the swamp, Abby Cable and the Swamp Thing play a game of 'Creature from the Black Lagoon', causing her some distress, as she needs her hair to be dry so she can go to her first day of work as a teacher for autistic children. She notes that Swamp Thing had been underwater for a full half-hour, and it appears that he no longer needs to breathe. He responds that his breathing before had merely been out of habit. He points out that Abby's husband Matt has failed to visit him again. She responds that things haven't been going well between them lately, and hints that she has suspicions about Matt.

At her interview for the job, Abby had met a boy named Paul, who believes that if children don't spell things correctly, they will be killed by a creature he calls the monkey king. One of the other teachers explained that Paul's parents were killed in something like a freak wiring accident. Despite some worries about how to deal with autism, Abby took the job happily.

Jason Blood buys a Ouija board at an auction, where Bobby – one of the patrons – informs him that the previous owners of all of the lots were killed, and that their son is now in a loony bin. It is clear that Jason already knows this, and he leaves another prediction of doom with the man, saying that he will be in jail by next summer, charged with manslaughter.

Abby puts on a nice dress, and Matthew complains that she seems more interested in the kids she'll be teaching than him. He implies that their sex life has suffered. Abby clearly recognizes his concerns, but her own worries and anxieties prevent her from engaging the issue, and she leaves for Baton Rouge. As she leaves, Matt uses his abilities to make her clothes take her form, and then behave according to his perverted will.

Elsewhere, Paul recalls how his parents had died. They were using a Ouija board, and after coming up with the phrase "Ommox Hodael Kamara," a strange white monkey-like creature attacked and killed them. Afterward, the creature had come to Paul, and licked his hand, like it belonged to him.

Jason Blood uses the Ouija board he bought - and it is now clear that it is the same one owned by Paul's parents - to determine that the words they found were an invocation to bring the creature to this world. He gathers his things and walks down the street. At the same time, Harry Price, a man who had encountered Jason earlier attempts to pick up Abby in Baton Rouge. Just as Jason predicted, all of the people he met earlier enact a scenario in which an arguing couple's car stops suddenly, and the swordfish attached to the roof comes loose, impaling Harry Price, and killing him. The couple occupying the vehicle was Bobby and his wife. Abby is horrified, but as she leaves the scene, Jason Blood accosts her, claiming that they have much to discuss.

At the school, Paul is still haunted by the monkey king, who expects him to give it commands. He fails to give commands, and as a result, the creature begins killing the other students there.

Notes

No special notes.

Trivia

Although most sources list Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #37 as the first appearance of John Constantine, this issue could be arguably his debut, as the artists inserted a man resembling the occultist in the panel behind a crying Abby after the accident that killed Harry Price.

The occult shop displays a record single by the Sinister Ducks, a real band with which Alan Moore recorded the 1983 novelty number, "March of the Sinister Ducks".